_Canaletto_ (Venetian: 1697-1768). _See 127._
A state regatta--a pastime which owes its origin to Venice--in honour
of the visit to the city of the King of Denmark in 1709. In the centre
of the canal are the gondoliers, racing; to the sides are moored the
spectators, the gala barges of the nobles conspicuous amongst them.
The variegated building on the left is a temporary pavilion for the
distribution of prizes. These regattas at Venice took the place of our
royal processions here. "Wherever the eye turned, it beheld a vast
multitude at doorways, on the quays, and even on the roofs. Some of the
spectators occupied scaffoldings erected at favourable points along the
sides of the canal; and the patrician ladies did not disdain to leave
their palaces, and, entering their gondolas, lose themselves among the
infinite number of the boats" (_Feste Veneziane_: quoted in Howells's
_Venetian Life_, ii. 69). Another custom in which we have begun to
imitate the Venetians, and which may be seen in this picture, is that
of hanging out carpets and stuffs by way of decorations. "The windows
and balconies," says the same account, "were decked with damasks,
stuffs of the Levant, tapestries, and velvets;" a very old Venetian
custom: see under 937.